“You have none. Let’s see, your given name is Stephanie Edgley. Your true name is Darquesse, and apparently you’re destined to extinguish all life on the planet. Oh, and you’re seeing a vampire behind your boyfriend’s back.”

Valkyrie’s eyes widened. “You… you know about that, then?”

“Of course I do.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I think it’s a huge mistake that will end extraordinarily badly – but if that’s the only way you’ll learn, so be it.”

“I can’t believe you’re not mad.”

“I comfort myself with the thought that I may have to kill Caelan at some stage.”

“Oh. Then just tell me why you abandoned the crest, for God’s sake. If ever I have a big secret from this moment on that I wouldn’t normally tell you, I’ll tell you. Deal?”

Skulduggery sighed, walked over to the remains of the sofa and sat on the arm. “I abandoned my family crest because I hadn’t lived up to the high standards as set by my parents and my brothers and sisters.”

“You had brothers and sisters?”

“Of course.”

“What were their names?”

“What does it matter? They’re all dead now. I’m the only one left, the only one to carry that crest down through the years. They were good, honourable, decent people. When they were alive, the crest meant something.”

“But you’re good and honourable and decent too.”

He took off his hat, brushed imaginary lint from the brim. “Unfortunately, in war, you let some of those qualities slip. When I feel I have regained the right to reclaim that crest, I’ll reclaim it.”

“I don’t know, I think you overreact.”

“Do you, now?”

“I know people do terrible things in war, but I can’t imagine you doing something so bad that it changes your opinion on who you are. You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“That’s always been a flaw of mine.”

“Were you the oldest?”

“Second oldest. I had an older brother.”

“Wow… the great Skulduggery Pleasant had a big brother. What was he like?”

Skulduggery’s chin tilted to the right. “He was bigger than me, stronger than me, he liked to think he was smarter than me. He protected us, looked out for us. He was everything an older sibling should be. He was everything that you’re going to be to your sister.”